Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine trying to convince the colonies to separate themselves from Great Britain. At the time Common Sense was written Great Britain was basically in charge of the colonies. Paine may have been an extremist, but his words helped start the colonies independence from Great Britain. Paine starts the pamphlet by deciphering the difference between government and society. He talks about government as a “necessary evil,” and that society is a blessing. Paine gives an example of a theoretical society with people who are the first on a new land. This society had dreams of living in “natural liberty.” At first it would be a single person, who seeks others for assistance, so it becomes a small society of four to five people. These people would not prosper because there are simply not enough people to complete all the tasks needed; this will bring many new people to emigrate into the society. The society now can complete its tasks but cannot agree on everything, they soon assemble to discuss public matters, but as the society increases less and less people’s voices are heard. This is what starts government. Paine then goes in to saying how if a government is needed, it should be made by the people living in that society; not following the rules …show more content…
He discusses how the colonies and Greta Britain are of fairly even sizes and how the colonies can “take up” Great Britain’s navy. He rationalizes by saying since the colonies are small in size, they are more united. This gives them an edge if they were to go to battle. Going into war would put the colonies into debt, but Paine concludes that if they expanded further West they could sell that land to pay it off. Paine concludes by indicating that under Great Britain’s control, the colonies only have them to rely on. If they become Independent then they can seek help from many other countries, making their independence
Paine’s use of language to appeal both to his reader’s reason and emotion has given him the advantage of creating an emotional connection between himself and the reader, attempting to raise their spirits and show them what could be, while also asking them to put their own minds to the problem at hand. Asking them to make sense of their current situation. He gives hope and then appeals to their ability to discern what is best for their new world. By doing this, he has presented reason after reason for them to declare independence before he practically turned to them and said “Don’t you think so?” the only ‘reasonable’ answer would at that point be, “Yes of course Mr. Paine you’re completely right!”
Paine dwells on the differences between government and society. He stresses greatly on the fact that a government should be able to protect its society. Giving life and liberty to its people. He also points out that, Britain is the main cause of enemy to the Americas. Expressing disagreement with the British in American, he criticized the British government. He believes that the monarchy has too much power and their system is unreasonable. Paine complicates matters further when he writes, that the Americans are not British anymore. It is not British in a sense that it is so diverse, with different types of Europeans. In Paine’s views Britain is not a mother country, since it imposes harsh treatments and is in a war too often. The idea of best interest was important to Paine. In his views, Britain sees the Americas as profitable institutions to control and gains riches from, as opposed to the development and freedom of the nations. Independence from Britain was one of many ideas of this pamphlet. “Common Sense”, essentially pointed out the reasons why the colonies should leave the British and form a new government. His views on government inspired “Limited government” and “natural laws”, which gives citizens more control on how they shape their local environment and
“Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavored to subdue us, is of all others, the most improper to defend us.” Such words scribed by the Revolutionary radical Thomas Paine epitomized the drive behind the American Revolution of the 18th century. For nearly two hundred years, the citizens of the American Colonies had been fastened securely to the wrist of the mother country, England. They had tolerated the tyrannous rule, but not without the simmer of rebellious thoughts. As England piled tax after tax onto their colonies, thoughts of revolution and revolt sprung up in the minds of the colonists and brewed there, waiting for a catalyst to drive them into action. The catalyst ignited on January 10th, 1776 when Thomas Paine published his fiery pamphlet ‘Common Sense’. The 48-page pamphlet presented before the colonists a vision for independence that had never been conceived before. It radically altered the course of the Revolution and would later find itself molding the foundation of America’s government indefinitely.
The measures made to ensure the king does not have absolute power are not enough to prevent him from ultimately getting his way no matter what that may be. On page 27 Paine tells how the king made the declaration that there will be no law unless put in place by himself. This effort to make the colonists powerless as to how they are governed is tyranny. Paine’s also argues that this event shows how Britain believes America has become too powerful and is trying to slow its growth and development (27). Those who are in parliament so far away from the tragic events that take place in America who live in such a vastly different world are too ignorant to make judgements for America (23). Paine’s statement that in America “law is king,” demonstrates the author’s argument that law developed for the people should be what runs the country not a single man (30). This coincides with the way America was running well before the war ended and Britain decided to exert more power over the colonies. This is made even more evident when Thomas Paine states Britain cannot be relied on to defend them because Britain is the entity that had been trying to take away America’s power and the people rights. Furthermore,
Thomas Paine wrote the Common Sense and in this pamphlet he wrote about America’s separation and independence from Great Britain. His argument stated that America is a large continent and we are in charge of our own fate and direction (Paine 107). Paine further explained that people migrated to America to escape the control of the King and his laws. Paine introduced a theory when comparing America to a small island, that it is possible if separated we can come together and make our own laws and run the country as we see fit (Paine 109). Paine believes that we are no longer in need of Britain’s help and that we can eventually form alliances with other countries as we stand alone outside of Britain’s control.
In addition to Paine's thoughts on monarchy, he is delighted to see the British leave America for many other reasons. It is clearly evident that Paine believes Americas would have flourished more if the British had not controlled the Americas. Not only does he say, ."..America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her", but he also states, "whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, because of her[America] connection w...
Due to the amount of taxation Great Britain has established on the colonists, majority were not willing to speak up. His pamphlet was published and sold about 120,000 and the numbers arose to millions, but he never made a profit from his selling’s, he still remained poor and continued writing for what he believed in. The pamphlet became significant due to its contents; independence from Great Britain. The series of taxation during the 1760’s created stress on the colonists over time and eventually it led to rebellion and revolt. The significance of the events led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the pamphlet played a large role in establishing and pointing out that the colonists should be independent. The “Crisis” was another one of Paine’s work with love and motivation for the soldiers during their tough time. A reader could infer from Paine’s work that he uses his pamphlets as a tool of motivation to help aide the colonists. The pamphlet was significant because of the role it has played during the fight of the colonists to gain independence. When the delegates from the thirteen colonies met at the Constitutional convention and during the writing of the Declaration of Independence is when the thirteen colonies were newly independent and no longer under British rule, they formed a new
Thomas Paine published Common Sense in 1776, anonymously likely because there was no freedom of press at that point in time. Right away it was a best-seller in the colonies as well as Europe. His pamphlet got the common people to realize the problems with the British and how they were power hungry in controlling the colonies. Paine’s two major points in Common Sense were independence from England and creating a democratic republic. His writing appealed to the people because of the way he wrote it. He used the language of the people and made many biblical quotes. Even though Paine was not religious, he knew the readers were. (Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, 2008-2014) His introduction in Common Sense still remains true today. “The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and ...
Paine had not entertained the idea of independence from Britain when he arrived in America. He thought it was “a kind of treason” to break away from Britain. It was not until the Battle of Lexington in 1775 that he considered “the compact between Britain and America to be broken” (Claeys). This idea of a broken compact allowed Thomas Paine to write a political pamphlet.
Thomas Paine’s Common sense from III Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs is about the conflict between New England and America. The Americans didn’t like the way the British treated them so Paine’s stated his issue why America has to be an independent country to save its government and the reasons to wanted having freedom with Britain. Pain gave reason in the text what would happen to the American government if they stayed dependent from England. Paine’s Common Sense spoke out his beliefs about the hardships in America and how he felt America. A quote by Thomas Paine, “The authority of Great Britain over this continent is a form of government which sooner or later must have an end: and a serious mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and positive conviction that what he calls ‘the present constitution’ is merely
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and The Crisis, No. 1 deal directly with the colonist’s rejection of British rule. According Paine, the British Crown had over stayed its welcome in the political and cultural development of the colonies. The introduction of Common Sense clearly states that the British monarchy has “a long and violent abuse of power,” and that the people of the colonies have the right to be involved and have meaningful representation to the king and Parliament (325) This is a core value of the colonists. Settlers of the English colonies saw the New World as a way to start a new government and new culture, especially when they were given no power in the Parliament. Paine further casts a light on the problems between Britain and America in the third section of Common Sense. He states that Britain is not connected to America anymore, even if the people are descendants of the country. The passage also expresses the selfishness of Britain protection of the colonies to gain truth and control of the people. (326-328) The writings of this section reflect how colonists felt and further helped them to realize that their former mother country, Britain, was an enemy rather than a
It was only a matter of time until the colonist had enough of the governments crap for abusing the power that they were given. Great Britain was just using the colonies to make more money and the colonist thought they would be better off on their own then under Britain’s rule. Paine states, “Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported good must be paid for buy them where were will” (Common Sense p.24). Paine thought if the Americans had control over their ports then Great Britain had nothing to offer them anymore. With that, American was no longer just colonies; they had grown into something much greater, a self thriving country. America became a refuge for many types of European with different type of beliefs. Paine Strongly worded, “Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America” (Common Sense p.
	During the 1770s Thomas Paine was a political philosopher and writer. He encouraged people to fight for American independence from Britain. He is one of the more creative figures of his period. Paine talked about American revolutionary ideas with his 1776 writing, Common Sense. In the writing, Paine made a point that Great Britain was trying to corrupt the American colonies and that they contributed nothing to America’s well being.
Thomas Paine urged for the colonies to gain independence from Britain by going to war, in which Britain ruled over the colonies looking out for its financial benefits. In Thomas Paine’s Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs he states “…whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with Britain.” Although the colonies were under the protection of Britain they gained enemies such as France and Spain, which spoiled the trade of the colonies. Paine believed the colonies should go to war, even the men who still had hope for Britain. Paine states “…and can you still shake hands with the murders, ...
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson appeals to patriotism. Jefferson ensures this by persuading the colonists to become self-governing. He tries to let all of the people of the New World understand that they have protested and defended themselves against the British for all of the corrupt acts the British have committed upon the colonists. Jefferson’s tone in the Declaration of Independence portrays how tiresome he has grown of the British rule after all of the deception towards Americans. Included within the idea of patriotism, is the idea of loyalty to the fundamental values and principles underlying American democracy. Thomas Paine also provides patriotism to get advocates for the movement to separate from the British forces. Correspondingly, Paine persuades Americans that they will prosper in numerous areas without the control of the British saying, “Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an independent, for independency means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws…” (Paine). Paine uses a demanding tone to convince Americans that if they should accept the ties with Britain, it will bring ruin and distress to the